This invention relates generally to road surface removal or reclaimer-stabilizer equipment and mining equipment, and more particularly, to cutter bit holders and bit blocks used in such road milling, mining, and trenching equipment.
Cutter bits are utilized in road, off-road and mining machinery on the perimeter and across the width of a rotary drum or on the outside of a continuous chain or the like where the bits are moved through an orbit which is intercepted by the face of the material being removed or recycled. Road milling equipment removes the defective surface of a road and smooths the top of all or selected portions of the road surface. The bits include a tip and a shank. The shank is received and may axially rotate in a bit holder which is secured onto a bit block that, in turn, is mounted on the drum. Each of the bits has a hardened tip, preferably made of tungsten carbide or such other hardened material that acts to remove a portion of the surface it contacts. By using a sufficient number of these bits around the outer surface of a rotating drum, a large amount of surface may be worked. Any surface being worked generally has a hardness which can be measured or anticipated prior to the removal operation. However, such road surfaces, or surfaces being removed have hardened irregularities running therethrough. The toughness or hardness of the irregularities may result in the breakage of the bits and holders as they are being run over such irregularities.
Additionally, a need has developed for providing ease of removability of bits in their bit holders, especially when the bit becomes worn and in need of replacement. U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,111 discloses an undercut flange at the bottom of a base of a bit that allows a pry bar to be wedged between that flange and the top of the bit block (no bit holder in this patent) to help remove a bit from a bit block. It would be desirable to provide a more efficient means for allowing the removal of a bit from a bit holder or a bit block.
Additionally, tightening a small fastener on the bottom of a bit holder to hold it in the bit block concentrates friction forces on a small area of the nut top face and the bottom of the bit block. It would be desirable to spread those friction forces over a larger area and avoid the use of a nut to retain the bit holder on the bit block.
Further, a need has developed for a truly quick-change type of bit holder that may easily and quickly be both inserted in the bit block and removed therefrom.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention, generally stated, to provide an improved means for quickly mounting and/or removing a bit holder from its associated bit block.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved means for mounting a bit holder in a bit block without the use of retaining nuts, clips or the like.
A further object of the invention is the provision of retaining a bit holder in a bit block by means of a resilient interference fit between the holder and the block.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved means for providing for breakage of inexpensive replaceable parts when road resurfacing equipment and mining equipment bits encounter very hard irregularities in the surface being milled or mined.